Eulogy
by Menamebephil
Summary: During the height of the Cadmus Crisis, Wally West pushes himself too far and enters the Speed Force...permanently. A companion to "Transposed", but you don't have to read that one to understand this one.
1. MIA

Eulogy

**Eulogy.**

_**A companion to my crossover story "Transposed", although you don't need to read that one to understand this one. Straight JLU. Semi inspired by "Legacy of The Bat", by Jarec, which is a good read. It's on my favourites list.**_

**Chapter One: MIA.**

"Superman, everyone! Flash is _still alive_!"

The Martian's words had an instantaneous effect. Superman dropped the naked Luthor, who clutched at his throat, feeling the bruises Superman had given him. The rest of the group just stared at the alien.

"I'm in telepathic contact with him. His spirit is weak, and growing weaker. But he's _still here_." The stoic J'onn's voice had been tinged with desperation, and he reached blindly around him. The rest of the League began to imitate him, and Shayera suddenly stumbled across the soft point.

A whirling maelstrom of light blue energy appeared in midair, and Shayera plunged her hand into it desperately.

"Flash!"

"Shayera?" Wally's voice seemed dazed, unconcerned. "It's so beautiful here." Not unconcerned. In awe. "There's a force. A _Speed_ Force. It's calling me home." He sounded like he was smiling. "I have to go now…"

"NO, WALLY!" Shayera screamed, and reached blindly, grabbing a limp arm by luck more than anything else. "TAKE MY HAND!" His arm remained unresponsive, and she found herself being dragged along with him.

Suddenly a powerful arm grabbed her left wrist, and she was pulled back from oblivion. Green Lantern had taken hold of her.

"I'm here too, Wally!" The ex-marine grunted.

"We're _all_ here!" Superman added, as the remainder of the Seven formed a (mostly) human chain.

"You've gotta come back to us!" John shouted, as they struggled against the vortex.

It was no use. Soon, all of the members began to find themselves losing ground against the wormhole. As Shayera felt her right wing completely enter the tunnel, she felt a hand wrest Wally's wrist from her grip, and she fell back as the hole closed itself.

"No…" Shayera stared at the hole in space where her almost brother had vanished, barely noticing John's arms around her.

A heavy, shocked silence descended upon the street, punctuated by the subdued and slightly disbelieving chuckles issuing from Lex Luthor.

--

Superman sat in the Watchtower, staring at the view from the window. His quiet was disturbed by Wonder Woman entering. After a little while, he spoke.

"How's everyone holding up?"

She sighed. "Bruce has vanished to his cave, and wouldn't answer when I tried to talk to him. John and Shayera are trying to comfort each other, and J'onn has gone quiet. He's just standing in his room, not moving." She walked over to him, and looked at him. "How are _you_ holding up?"

Superman looked at the ground. "It was my fault."

She scowled. "How did you figure that out?"

"How could it _not_ be? If I had just dismantled that… _damned_… weapon, if I had beaten Luthor when I had the chance, if I had _listened_ when I was told we were going too far, we wouldn't be here right now, and Wally _would_ be here right now."

"Clark, you mustn't blame yourself. How could you have known this would happen? And remember who it was that _fired_ the cannon."

Instead of answering, he changed subject. "Are we sure he's gone?"

"Yes."

The answer came from the doorway, where Batman stood, along with a man who looked in his fifties, wearing a red shirt and blue trousers. A winged helmet was in his right hand, and he walked over to Superman and extended his left.

"Jay Garrick; the first Flash."

"Superman." They shook hands.

"He has something to explain." Batman said, and Clark couldn't avoid hearing how _old_ his voice suddenly sounded.

"Yes." Jay sighed, and ran his fingers through his grey hair. "Wally hit the Speed Force." The confusion evident on the face of the most powerful man in the world indicated that he should continue. "The Speed Force is, in layman's terms, a ball of kinetic energy that all speedsters tap into for their powers. It also serves as a kind of Valhalla for speedsters. Wally went too fast, until his body couldn't take the energies of the Speed Force any more and he was sucked in. He's gone, and the only way to get to him would be to repeat his feat, which would have the same consequences for anyone that tried it, even if they could. I'm sorry."

--

"What will you do?"

Superman sat up, and looked at Wonder Woman. "Is everyone back at the Watchtower?"

She nodded.

"Get everyone to the bridge. I'll have to tell them what happened, I suppose. Anything else can wait."

--

"What do you think they're gonna say?" Supergirl asked Green Arrow as they waited for Superman's arrival, along with the other heroes and the entire maintenance staff.

"Probably just a pat on the back for dealing with this crisis."

"You think? They seemed kinda grim over the intercom. And they've got all the staff here as well. No one's on clean up."

"Well, what do you think it is?"

"I don't know. That's why I asked you."

Their neighbours were spared further bickering by the arrival of the Original Seven. Supergirl blinked, then recounted in her head.

"Where's Flash?"

--

Superman rested his massive hands on the railing, looming down over the crowd below, looking for all the world like a preacher. He breathed deeply, once, and then began to speak.

"I have two things to say, so you're going to have to bear with me here.

"Firstly, I want to congratulate everyone on their performance during this crisis. You all exhibited exemplary behaviour, and I'm proud of you all. Special mention goes to Steel and Supergirl, for their defence of the Watchtower, and to Green Arrow for his coordination of the evacuation."

Those mentioned had the decency to look smug.

He closed his eyes before continuing. "The second thing I have to say concerns the Omega Level alert you were all alerted to earlier today.

"When we moved to apprehend the true culprit behind the crisis, Lex Luthor, we found that he had fused with the supervillain Brainiac. In the following battle, we defeated them, separating the two, and destroying Brainiac, but at a cost."

Another pause, and then he spoke again, the next line obviously rehearsed.

"The Flash defeated the enemy, and destroyed Brainiac, but was killed in action."

Dead silence.


	2. Testament

Chapter Two: Testament

**Chapter Two: Testament.**

After the painful announcement, the founding members retreated to the vaults, to retrieve the secret Will of Wally West. Batman opened the safe containing the Will, and opened it. He coughed once, and began to read, squinting once or twice at the abysmal handwriting.

"_This is the Last Will and Testament of WALLACE RUDOLPH WEST, of APARTMENT 31A, 21ST STREET, CENTRAL CITY, and ROOM SEVEN, THE WATCHTOWER, also known as THE FLASH (III). CLARK KENT and BRUCE WAYNE are the primary executors._

_In the event of my death, I leave any remaining costume rings to BARTHOLEMEW ALLEN, also known as KID FLASH (II), currently residing in TITAN'S TOWER, JUMP CITY. He is welcome to alter the costume as he sees fit. He is, however, under no obligation to become the next Flash._

_All my civilian possessions I leave to my uncle, BARRY ALLEN, formerly known as THE FLASH (II). God knows what he'll do with my underwear and old magazines._

_The care of Central and Keystone cities I charge to SHAYERA HOL and J'ONN J'ONNZ, respectively. They need to get out more, and stop hiding from the public. They're not going to accept you if you stay on the Watchtower all the time."_

J'onn and Shayera looked at each other in stunned silence. _That _had been unexpected.

"_To BRUCE WAYNE, I leave my CD collection, as well as all of my stand-up comedian DVDs, excluding my Eddie Izzard collection. You need to grow a sense of humour."_

Batman scowled at that, but continued.

"_To JOHN STWEART, I leave The FlashMobile. You know you love it. May need to be reupholstered."_

John couldn't resist a chuckle at the memory of The FlashMobile.

"_To KARA KENT, I leave my entire collection of blackmail videos, including the one where we spiked Shining Knight's drink and he started reciting "Sumer Is Icumen In"._

_To CLARK KENT, I leave not any items (since I've run out) but a message-_

_If you start going crazy and start lobotomising people and take over the world, I will be extremely disappointed. Seriously. And white doesn't suit you at all._

_I guess you could have my hammock. It's in my Watchtower room."_

Clark said nothing, and just stared at the ground.

"_To PRINCESS DIANA (since I never learned your surname) I leave a mission. Inform LINDA PARK that I'm dead. And tell her who I was; I never liked keeping secrets. She likes you. Can you imagine Bats breaking the news?_

_-Linda opens her door and walks out of her apartment. She activates a tripwire that snags her leg and drags her to a rooftop where Batman is waiting._

_Bats: "Flash is dead. Wally West was The Flash."_

_Deactivates the wire and sends Linda tumbling to the ground, stopping her at the last inch before releasing her.-_

_In return for this, you can have my Eddie Izzard collection. I know you like him._

_I also request that VICTOR SAGE be informed that the sinking of the Titanic was orchestrated by Gordanian Slave Traders in tandem with the Government. The Gordanians demanded that certain guests be eliminated, and in return the Government received Excalibur, which the Gordanians had obtained after abducting King Arthur en route to Avalon. Have fun with that._

_OLIVER QUEEN should be told that it was me that added pink dye to his shampoo the one time he slept on the Watchtower._

_I request burial in my local church; with a headstone reading "I'll Be Back". Just to freak people out._

_Unless I die over the age of forty five, in which case I request that my headstone bear the legend "The Good Die Young"._

_I would like to take this opportunity to say how much I enjoyed my time in the League. It was a blast, guys. Really. Even when we got that stupid laser cannon. That's gonna cause trouble one day, trust me."_

Once he was done, Batman waved the document in the air, refusing to allow the silence a moment to settle.

"We need to inform the others addressed in this Will."

"I'll do it." Superman volunteered. "Where did he keep the blackmail tapes?"

John chuckled. "In his room here. In a lead box I helped him smuggle in."

Superman frowned. If it was lead lined, then that meant that Clark wasn't allowed to know of its existence, which must mean…

"Great. Kara gets blackmail on _me_? What have _I_ done?"

--

"You wanted to talk to us?" Green Arrow said as he, Supergirl and The Question sat around the conference table with Superman.

"Yes. All three of you were mentioned in Wally's Will." Before they had time to ask about that, he continued. "Kara, he left you these." Superman handed a lead lined box to her. She opened it, and saw it was full of DVD cases. "They're blackmail, apparently." Comprehension dawned, and she closed the box, holding it as far away from The Question's prying eyes as possible.

"Question, I was asked to tell you that" here Superman struggled to keep a straight face "the sinking of the Titanic was orchestrated by the Gordanians in tandem with the Government as an assassination attempt."

"And the Government received Excalibur in return, I know. Old news. I independently confirmed this weeks ago." The Question rasped.

"Right…so…Arrow, he asked me to tell you that it was him that put pink hair dye in your shampoo."

Kara laughed at that, while Ollie turned an interesting shade of purple.

--

Linda Park was sitting in her apartment, listening to the radio, when she was disturbed by a knock on the door. Sighing, she opened it, to find a star-spangled apparition at her door.

"Linda Park?"

She nodded, mutely.

"We need to talk."

"Oh, um, come in!" She stammered, somewhat flustered by the appearance of the most powerful woman on Earth.

Wonder Woman swept into the apartment, and stood by the counter. She gestured to one of the dining table chairs.

"You may want to sit down."

No one _ever_ started good news like that. Linda sat down.

"Do you know what happened three days ago?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Only vaguely. There was something to do with Cadmus. They attacked you after you fired that laser, only it wasn't you, or something."

Wonder Woman nodded. "That's right. We're going to hold a press conference about it soon."

Linda frowned. "So, why are you telling me now?"

Wonder Woman hesitated for a moment, and then spoke. "Were you acquainted with one Wally West?"

Linda frowned at the use of _were_. "Yes. We've dated a few times. Why? Is he in trouble?" She was shocked to see Wonder Woman look like she was about to cry.

"He was a colleague of ours."

"You mean…" The implications of the statement shocked Linda into silence.

"He was The Flash."

After a moment of stunned silence, Linda got her breath back. "Why are you using the past tense? What's happened?"

"Three days ago, we fought a Brainiac-possessed Lex Luthor. Wally eventually defeated him, but…he was killed." She put a hand on Linda's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Linda didn't say anything, but simply stared out at nothing.

"Would you like to be alone?"

"Please." Linda replied in a small voice.

"Okay." With that, Wonder Woman left the apartment. As she walked down the hall she was sure she could hear crying.


	3. Dispute

Chapter Three: Dispute

**Chapter Three: Dispute.**

When Shayera walked into the conference room the next day, she was greeted by raised voices.

"Why? Because it isn't _fun _any more? Because it's suddenly a little more than a _game_?"

Batman was on his feet, snarling at Superman, who was standing with his arms crossed.

"It's not just that. We've lost the people's confidence. The League is broken, and I'm not convinced we can fix it."

"You need to learn to deal with consequences. If you fail once, that isn't an excuse to just pack up and go home."

"Look what this failure _cost_ us. I don't think we could afford to fail like this again."

"So we prepare better, and we _don't _fail next time." Seeing Superman was still far from convinced, Batman went for a low blow. "Do you _really_ think Wally would want us to quit because of this? I would think you knew him better than this."

Superman didn't respond, and Batman pressed his advantage. "Say we dismantle the League, and a year from now Darkseid comes back. What do we do then? I can't fight the legions of Apokolips by myself if they stray into Gotham, and I don't think you could defeat them if they attacked Metropolis. For better or for worse the Justice League has raised the game, and we can't back down now."

"Bruce is right, Clark. You can't disregard everything the League has done. We've kept this world safe for a long time, and if we just quit now…"

Superman sighed. "Alright. The Justice League will remain. But we're dismantling the laser cannon."

--

J'onn J'onzz put the phone down.

"I never want to have a conversation like that again."

"What?" Green Lantern asked.

"Explaining the events of the last week to the President was more than a little taxing."

"Hmm. Superman back from the press conference yet?"

"No."

Green Lantern sighed, casting around desperately for a topic of conversation other than the obvious.

"So… have you given much thought to your new job yet?"

The Martian frowned. "What do you mean? Oh, the guardianship of Keystone City. No, I haven't had much opportunity to think of it."

"Well, you should think about it, I guess. It's gotta be a lot different than just swooping in to save the world."

"Perhaps." He turned to look at John. "How did your meeting with Kid Flash go?"

The Green Lantern sighed, but allowed the Martian to change the subject. "Not well."

--

_John knocked on the tall steel door, and was greeted by a red, horned apparition. The demonic figure grinned._

"_Can I help you?" John was surprised to find that the voice was perfectly normal._

"_Err…yeah. Is Kid Flash there? I need to speak with him."_

"_Yeah, I'll get him. You wanna wait in the foyer? I'll only be a sec." With that he left, with a swish of his tail._

_After a few moments of silence, John looked up from his seat to see a young teenager dressed in a near exact replica of the Kid Flash costume he had seen when Wally had dragged him around the Flash Museum._

"_What's up? You guys finally tired of Wally? Need a replacement?"_

_Oh, Jesus. What was he supposed to say to _that_?_

_He eventually settled on not saying anything, and instead handed Bart Wally's old Flash Ring._

"_What's this? One of Wally's rings?" His brow furrowed. "Why are you giving this to me? Has he retired, or something?"_

_John shook his head. There was no easy way to say what had to be said._

"_You may want to sit down."_

_Kid Flash's eyes widened. "Okay, I've seen enough movies to know that anything following 'you may want to sit down' has _got_ to be bad. So what's happened?" He sounded worried, and sat down._

_John exhaled loudly. "Wally's dead."_

"_What? I could have sworn you said-"_

"_Wally's dead, kid. I'm sorry." John couldn't bring himself to meet Bart's eyes._

"_How?" He eventually said._

"_Fighting Brainiac. He went too fast, got sucked into the Speed Force. Nothing we could do." He struggled to keep a level voice. It wouldn't do to break down in front of the kid._

"_Oh."_

"_He left you the ring. Said you could change the costume if you liked, and said you didn't have to be the next Flash. He left Central and Keystone to the League." That wasn't technically true, but John doubted Bart would be too interested in specifics. "The funeral's next week, and Superman's going to tell the world this evening. We just thought you'd like to know."_

"_Thank you." Kid Flash said, staring at the ring. John walked past him to the door, and stopped briefly to pat the kid on the shoulder, before he activated the teleporter back to the Watchtower._

--

In Central City, late that night, an electronics shop was being broken in to.

"You sure about this?"

"Didn't you hear the news? The Flash is _dead_. No one's stopping us, 'cept the cops, and you know how lazy they've got around here."

"I guess." The man handed his partner a computer monitor through the broken window, but stopped short at the sound of footsteps.

"I'd put those back if I were you." A figure stepped out of the shadows, and levelled a blue handgun at the thieves.

"Captain Cold?"

The man nodded. "And I suggest you leave now."

"But…but…you're a _criminal_. One of the Flash's enemies."

"Yes."

"And now the Flash is gone. What's stopping you doing what you want?"

Captain Cold scowled. "Didn't you listen to the report? The Flash died saving the _Universe_. You don't take advantage of something like that. So just put those back, and things don't have to get ugly."

One of the criminals, the bolder and possibly stupider of the two, tried for bravado. He stepped towards the hooded man, and hefted a wrench.

"You gonna make us?"

The next morning, the police infirmary had to treat two new inmates for frostbite. In June.


	4. Interment

Chapter Four: Interment

**Chapter Four: Interment.**

The small church was packed. Wally had stipulated that he be buried in his local church, next to his parents. Thus the funeral was held in a building far too small for everyone that _wanted_ to be there, but was just large enough for everyone that _needed_ to be there.

It had been decided that the news of his death would coincide with the revelation of his identity. He'd never liked keeping secrets anyway, and it would give his civilian friends closure. He hadn't been famous, just a forensic scientist for the Central City Police, so most of the world had no idea who Wally West was, other than the name behind the mask.

The whole of the League had shown up, even those that had spoken to Flash maybe once in their lives, like Dr. Fate, or Aquaman. Several of the Titans had arrived, along with Nightwing and Starfire. A space had been set aside for Wally's civilian friends, who looked decidedly uneasy amongst the costumed brigade.

J'onn shook his head. He was certain that Flash would not have approved of the segregation, but it was too late to be helped now.

Superman stepped up to the podium, and looked down at the photo of Wally, maskless, grinning widely. Several wreaths of flowers were at the feet of the photograph.

Staring out at the crowd, he coughed and looked down at his notes. He stared at the pre-prepared phrases, and impulsively threw them away. Very un-Supermanly, but Wally had always preferred to wing it.

"When I…when I was asked to speak here, the first thing I thought of was Wally, complaining at me that my speeches always made him go to sleep." A grin, generated by faraway thoughts. "So, to make it interesting, I guess I'll make it up as I go along.

"Wally was the best and the worst of the League. He was irreverent, annoying, and scatterbrained. He endorsed energy drinks and running shoes, which irritated me no end, partially because this meant_ I_ got requests to do adverts.

"But he also embodied some of the best qualities of a hero. He was kind and self-sacrificing. When things got serious, he did too.

"A true humanitarian, Wally was always concerned with things that we overlook all too often. Speaking to some of the residents of Keystone and Central earlier today, I was frankly stunned by how many seemed to know Wally personally. He always remembered people, and always had the time to talk.

"A lot of people in the League didn't understand Wally, especially the more serious ones." Superman shot Batman a glance before continuing. "Batman didn't figure out the puzzle that was Wally West for a couple of years.

"But really, Wally was a simple guy. He wasn't driven by anything other than a simple desire to help people, and that made him a hero far more than his speed."

Superman stepped away from the podium, and J'onn, who was presiding over the proceedings, stepped up.

"This is the music he requested."

He pressed a button on the CD player that was hooked up to two large speakers, and after a moment, a song began. It started with a simple, two chord refrain, setting a rapid tempo before a second guitar entered, playing a ridiculous amount of high pitched notes as quickly as possible, with little regard to tune. Then, suddenly, a singer's voice rasped.

"_Theeey've got, a power and a force that you've never seen before."_

John's eyes widened as he recognised the song.

"_Theeey've got, the ability to morph and to even up theee score."_

The Green Lantern leaned over to J'onn, and hissed.

"You're playing the wrong song!"

"_No one can ever take them down,"_

The Martian shook his head solemnly.

"No, this is the song he requested, I'm afraid."

"_The power lies on their si-i-i-i-i-ide…"_

"He's making a mockery of the whole process!"

"_Go, go Power Rangers!"_

"Did you expect anything less of him?"

"_Go, go Power Rangers!"_

_­_"Well, no, not really." John chuckled a little.

"_Go, go Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin' Power Range-ers!"_

--

It had been three hours since the service, and everyone was in the Watchtower, at the wake. There was a karaoke machine. It seemed only appropriate.

Even Batman was in attendance, lurking at the back, hunched like a murderous crow, scowling at everyone that tried to talk to him. Diana considered admonishing him for this, but realised that Wally would have expected nothing less of the man.

"Hey."

"…"

Ellipses were the standard icebreaker when it came to Batman, so she wasn't put off by his lack of reaction.

"You know, you might want to say something. You didn't even speak at the funeral. The rest of the founders spoke, his girlfriend spoke, even his _landlady_ spoke, but the Mighty Batman couldn't drop his defences for five minutes!"

"What's left to say?"

"I don't know! Something! Anything!" Diana couldn't restrain her temper at Batman's emotional constipation, and fought to avoid shouting. "I know it's not true, but to a lot of people today it looked like you didn't _care_!" She continued, more softly. "You _did_ care, didn't you?"

Batman glared at the condiments table like the cocktail sausages had caused World War Two.

"He was a good man."

Diana was caught off guard by the bald statement, and by the time she had regained her composure, Batman had stalked out of the door.


End file.
